State To Decide Fine For Damaging Wetlands

ISLE OF WIGHT — A developer that cleared a marsh to improve the view will find out the penalty this week.

Shell out 20 bucks or so and you can get your lawn mowed.

But how much does it cost to mow a wetland?

More precisely, how much will the penalty be for the developer that mowed down huge swaths of pristine wetlands in order to create better water views before a big lot sale?

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will decide Tuesday how much to fine VA Timberline LLC, which is developing the 1,500-acre Lawnes Point on the James in Isle of Wight County. The property sits on bluffs above the James River and is bordered by Lawnes Creek, which creates the boundary between Isle of Wight and Surry counties.

In June 2006, company officials then in charge of the development hired a subcontractor to use a massive piece of equipment called a Marsh Buggy to do the mowing. The company had a big open house weekend coming up on July 29 to try to sell lots. Former NFL star Dan Marino, who had been doing public relations for the development, was scheduled to appear.

VMRC law enforcement officers spotted the equipment during a fly-over June 22. It has been a matter of legal wrangling since. VA Timberline paid the county $10,000 in a settlement in which two misdemeanor charges were dropped.

Now the VMRC -- which has jurisdiction over all stream and river bottoms in the state -- is considering its own penalty.

VMRC board members made clear at a meeting last month they take the damage to the environmentally sensitive marshes very seriously. The Marsh Buggy's ruts, made by 6-foot-tall, tank-like treads, still cut through the wetlands and stream bottoms.

"I know how beautiful a marsh it is, how pristine it is," said Commissioner Steven G. Bowman, speaking to company representative Chip Watkeys last month, according to a recording of the meeting.

"And to mow vistas simply to up the price because you're having a fire sale of the lots is intolerable."

Board members delayed acting on the fine last month because they wanted more legal guidance on how much of a fine they could levy.

Watkeys said he had been under the impression the fine would be $10,000 -- the penalty for disturbing wetlands and stream bottom without a permit.

But several VMRC board members made it clear they were interested in a much greater penalty. Bowman suggested that each track crossing state-owned stream bottom could constitute an individual violation.

Board member J. Carter Fox noted the equipment was on the property for 37 days -- though mowing was likely done on only eight to 12 days. Fox made a motion to levy a $370,000 fine, $10,000 for each day the equipment was on the property.

"Very honestly, I'm disappointed the math comes out as low as it does. I think there was more damage done than $370,000," Fox said.

VMRC staff was unable to say exactly how many acres of the marsh were disturbed. But Watkeys said his analysis showed 142,054 feet of tread tracks criss-crossing the land.

Scientists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reviewed the situation and said trying to repair the damage could cause more harm, so it should probably be left to recover on its own.

Watkeys said the entire Virginia staff in charge of Lawnes Point on the James was fired after the mowing.

The 1,500-acre development is being carved up into only 155 lots. Originally the company planned to sell lots for $250,000 to $1 million.

Several years ago, the developers agreed to give Isle of Wight County 50 acres of land for a park with softball fields and picnic areas, plus a 22-acre property surrounding the Civil War-era Fort Huger, a Confederate post built to battle Union ships in the James River. The earthworks there remain in good shape.

The lots in front of the mowed marsh area were once listed at $300,000 to $600,000, Watkeys said. They are now selling for $150,000 to $225,000, as prices in the local housing market have come down.

Watkeys, who is based in the company's Greenville, N.C., office but took over the Lawnes Point on the James development last fall, did not try to defend the mowing when speaking to the VMRC board.

"Their incompetence, I'm sure we're going to pay something for it," he said. "But I ask that it be reasonable." *